The Sydney Roosters will play the North Queensland Cowboys in a preliminary final at Allianz Stadium on Saturday 23 September, with kickoff scheduled for 7:40pm AEST.
The winner of the match will play the winner of the previous night’s preliminary final, to be played between the Melbourne Storm and the Brisbane Broncos, in the 2017 NRL grand final at Allianz Stadium the week after.
The Sydney Roosters finished second on the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season, and as such had the right to host a preliminary final, with the Brisbane Broncos, finishing third, slated as their opponents.
It was a tight battle, but the Roosters came out on top in the end, and as a result won their way through to this preliminary final, with the right once again to host the match at Allianz Stadium.
The North Queensland Cowboys had all but given up on finals during the final round of the home-and-away season but have remarkably made it through to a preliminary final.
The Cowboys only qualified for finals thanks to the St George Illawarra Dragons surprisingly losing on the last day of the season.
They have taken their chance with both hands since though, recording a pair of upset wins.
Last week it was a narrow finish that went into extra time against the Cronulla Sharks, where a field goal in the extra time gave them a slim victory and kept their hopes alive.
Their victory over the Eels on Saturday night was more clear – despite Parramatta being in good form, the Cowboys beat them comfortably, pulling out to a 14-point lead at one stage.
A late try by Michael Jennings for the Eels brought the final score to 16-24 in the Cowboys favour, but there was no doubt as to who was the better team.
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